I Moved!

Hey everyone! As of today, I've moved my blog over to WordPress.com.

The new website is: http://meghanwelch.wordpress.com

If you have me linked on your blog, please update the link.

I hope you enjoy the new site!

Tuesday Trivia

My summer job in high school and college was lifeguarding at our local park. One of the best parts of guarding were stormy days. I loved watching the storm front roll in and seeing that first flash of lightning that would allow us to close the pool! Once the pool was clear of swimmers, we would sit in the office, looking over Lake St. Clair and watch the storm pass by. I especially loved to watch the lightning. My favorite are the long bolts that were purple in color. A purple lightning bolt against a grey sky - beautiful!

Today's trivia is all about lightning! Did you know...

~ Lightning is one of the leading weather-related causes of death and injury in the U.S.?

~ Talking on the telephone is the leading cause of lightning injuries inside the home?

~ The Earth as a whole is struck by an average of over 100 lightning bolts per second?

~ The temperature of a typical lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the sun?

Hey Hey Hockeytown!

Congratulations Detroit Red Wings!

2008 Stanley Cup Champions!

Special shout out to Dan Cleary. He is the first player from New Foundland, Canada to win the Stanley Cup!

I Want Stanley!

Well, it's just about game time for the Red Wings in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

I'm not a huge sports fan, I need to know the teams that are playing in order to enjoy watching the game. I of course watch Notre Dame Football but in terms of pro sports, I enjoy watching the Detroit teams (Red Wings, Pistons and even the Tigers...can't do the Lions though).

I remember our 8th grade graduation dance. It was the night of one of the Red Wings Stanley Cup games and a lot of the girls were mad because all of the boys were in the cafeteria watching the game instead of dancing. The Wings went on to win the cup in 1997, their first Stanley Cup since 1955!

Monday night was game 5 of this series against Pittsburgh and the Wings were up 3 games to 1. The game was at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and was the perfect place for them to win the cup. Again, I'm not a huge sports fan, but this was a big and exciting game so I had to watch. The Wings played well and went from being down 0-2 to being very close to a win with a score of 3-2. Everyone thought the Wings had the game in the bag, but with just 34 seconds left in the game Pittsburgh scored to send the game into overtime. I ended up going to bed at 12:15am after the second overtime and Pittsburgh won the game in the third overtime! UGH!

I'm hoping the Wings win tonight. Let's just cross our fingers that it's not in the 3rd overtime!

Tuesday Trivia

Did you know...

The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language?

The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night? (just disgusting!)

A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair?

Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants?

China has more English speakers than the United States?

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out?

I'm gonna keep my eye on you shorty!

Lost is AMAZING!!!

Last night's season finale was just awesome. Penny and Desmond were reunited, we got to see how the Oceanic 6 were rescued, we saw the island get sucked up into the ocean (it was moved by Ben) and so many more fantastic things happened. Awesome.

If you're a fan of the show, below are a couple links to some reviews by E! and Entertainment Weekly. Both are worth the read:

Watch With Kristen - E!

TV Watch - Entertainment Weekly

(The title of the post is a quote by Rose to Miles from last night's episode)

Update!

It's been a while since I've posted, so I figured it was time for an update.

My mom stopped by on her way back from Charleston a couple weeks ago on Mother's Day. We took her out to a nice dinner and got to spend the evening with her before she left for home the next day. It was another short visit, but it was so nice to see her again and spend time with her - especially on Mother's Day.

Last weekend, thanks to Grandpa Welch, Eric, Jessi and I flew back to Canfield for a visit with Mom and Dad Welch. We arrived late Friday night and Maggie (their great dane) was so excited to see us. On Saturday we slept in a bit and had a relaxing morning before the three of us picked up Grandpa for lunch. We feasted on Jib-Jab (the best hot dog shop ever!) and had a nice visit. Later we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty good, but I was a little disappointed with the ending (I'm not a fan of alien movies). Sunday we went for a nice walk at a park, visited Angels for Animals, had a picnic lunch and then a nice bonfire at night. Before we knew it, Monday was here and it was time to fly back to Charlotte. I can't believe how fast the weekend went, but we had a really nice time.

We've had Madison with us now for a year. It was Memorial Day last year that we took her for her first visit to the vet. She is now growing from a kitten to a cat and she definitely has a unique personality. She makes me laugh every day. She loves to play with bottle caps. We started playing fetch with them, but she doesn't bring them all the way back anymore. She also loves twist-ties and the plastic seals from milk jugs. Needless to say we haven't had to spend a lot of money on toys for her. Recently, she has found some favorite spots for her naps. I hope you enjoy the pictures below:

Tuesday Trivia

Today's trivia comes courtesy of my sister, Katie, and Wikipedia:

Did you know that Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan?

Stevie was born premature and was put into an incubator. Because too much oxygen was let into the incubator, cataracts grew behind each eye leaving Stevie blind for life.

Stevie signed with Motown Records at age 12 and continues to perform for the label today.

Stevie plays a multitude of instruments: piano, synthesizer, talk box, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, bass guitar, organ, melodica and clarinet.

The Boys Are Back...

Woo-hoo!! New Kids on the Block are back!! I'm so mad I missed their performance this morning on the Today Show, but I at least got to see it online!

I'm Fifty!

Not me (although I'm halfway there), my blog! This is my fiftieth post on this site. Nothing huge, I know, but a milestone none-the-less.

Let's see, what's been going on this week...

Well, on Sunday I decided to dress up for church and wear a sundress with sandals. While the sandals were high heeled, they are only about an inch and a half or so, not too bad. Well, I should have taken in to account the fact that I was going to be on my feet for about eight hours that day...my dogs were barkin' when I got home. Since I work from home and don't usually wear heels anymore, my feet were sore for about 2 days! I'm just not used to those things anymore!

On Tuesday we attended the Movement meeting with the leaders of Elevation. I love those nights. I love our church. I love the people I get to serve with each week. I love our Pastor. I love hearing him speak, knowing that he is speaking the word of God to us each week. I wish we could have a service every night of the week. I could listen to Pastor preach for hours (and I'm sure he could do it too!)

We don't have a whole lot planned for this weekend. My mom is stopping here for the night on Sunday, on her way home from Charleston, so tomorrow is cleaning day! Hopefully, if it doesn't rain tonight, Eric and I can go biking tomorrow! I'm so excited to get back on the trails!

Tuesday Trivia

Did you know...

...that half of all Americans over the age of 55 have no teeth?

...that when you walk down a hill, the pressure on your knees is equal to 3 times your body weight?

...that if you are bitten by a poisonous snake and fail to receive medical attention, you will still have a 50% chance of survival?

The Finger Saga and Other Notes

Well, I know ya'll are dying to know how my finger is doing...so I'll just give you a little update. I saw the doctor on Tuesday, and I improved my range of motion by 20 degrees in both of my knuckles! Also, my swelling went down a lot! He's happy with how things are going and I should be healed in a few months (hopefully). I had my physical therapy on Wednesday and my therapist said my finger was looking a lot better. I got some more exercises to do and I have one more appointment with her in two weeks. Hopefully that will be my last appointment and then I'll be on my own. I'm hoping within the next 4-5 months I will be back to normal. The doctor said I have a good chance that my knuckle will go down to the size it was before, but I'm preparing myself to have a larger size knuckle when all is said and done.

My mom is spending the next week in Charleston, SC with my great aunt Katie, so she drove down yesterday and is spending a couple nights here with us. I was able to take a day off of work and we were able to have a really nice day of shopping together. We hit the usual TJ's and Marshalls and of course Talbots. The visit has been really nice so far, and Maddy hasn't been too bad. She's really not used to a lot of people in the apartment (and by a lot I mean more than just Eric and I), so she's not very social. We've had a few moments of bad behavior, but as long as we leave her alone she's fine.

Well, I'm just chillin' waiting for Lost to come on. Last week's episode was FANTASTIC and I'm really looking forward to tonight's as well. I really want to learn more about Ben and Charles W's relationship. What the heck is going on??

Tuesday Trivia

~ Colgate's first toothpaste came in a jar

~ Giraffes are unable to cough

~ Only female mosquitoes bite and drink blood

~ The average lifespan of a hermit crab is 75 years!

Recurring Dreams

Do you have a recurring dream? Mine is that I'm back in high school. Three things usually happen in each dream: 1) I forget my locker combination and have to go to the office everyday to see what it is, 2) I'm always skipping a class (not intentionally, when the dream starts I'm a few months into the year and I have never been to the class), and 3) I forget to do an assignment or put it off to the very last minute.

On average, I would say I have this dream about once every month or every couple months. It's always the same scenario. The major theme in the dream is usually one of the 3 instances listed above. I had this dream again last night and it was a combination of #2 and #3. The class I was skipping last night was Math class and the assignment I was putting off was two essays for an English class. In the dream I was walking down the hall and my teacher passed by, Mrs. Kopec (she was actually my 6th grade homeroom/math/social studies teacher), and she asked how the essays were going. I said good because I didn't want to get in trouble, but in my mind I was stressing out because I had forgotten about them!

I don't know why I keep having this dream. It's been seven years since I've been in high school, so it's not like I'm stressed about a new year starting. I'm three years out of college and have no plans for grad school, so it's not like I'm stressing about that. So why am I having this dream? Why am I still, even subconsciously, thinking/worrying about these circumstances? Maybe I need to get more organized in my life? In each of the scenarios I'm forgetting something, whether it's a locker combination, a class or an assignment. Am I really stressing about what's going on in my life now and I'm worried that I'm going to forget something?

Maybe it's time that I get a remembrall. The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten.

Tuesday Trivia

Today's trivia is provided by nicefacts.com:

~ 80% of millionaires drive used cars
~ A lion's roar can be heard from more than 5 miles away
~ The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' head enables it to see all four feet at all times
~ The U.S. has more bagpipe bands than Scotland does
~ 15% of Americans secretly bite their toes (ew!)

One Year

A year ago today, Eric and I were married in Detroit, Michigan. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! We have had such an amazing year down here in Charlotte. I love every day I get to spend with Eric. After 3 and a half years of long distance dating, it is so nice to be able to be with him every day. I love learning more about him each day.

Eric, I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for being such a caring, supportive and loving husband.

Ramblings

What a gorgeous day it was today! Too bad I had to work all day and couldn't really go out and enjoy the beautiful weather. I did have all of the windows open though and the birds were chirpin' all day!

A while back I wrote this post about my injured finger. Well, nine weeks have now passed, the finger is still swollen and I am now in physical therapy to get the mobility back. I went in on Wednesday morning to meet my therapist. The office is right down the road from us and my therapist is super nice. She did an evaluation, did some strength tests, had an ultra sound treatment done to help with the circulation and had a nice little finger massage. She determined that I need to go in once a week for about 6 weeks and continue to do some exercises at home. They are going well so far, but it's still going to take up to 6 months for this finger to heal! I'm just looking forward to the day that I can wear my wedding band again!

Eric and I had a gift certificate from Dell from our recent computer purchase, so we cashed it in for a webcam. It came yesterday and boy did we have some fun with it! I was laughing/crying so hard for like twenty minutes as we played with the different features of the camera.

Those are just a small sample of what we took the other day. Our real intention for getting the camera is so that we can talk to our parents through the computer and actually see them! Eric was on Skype for a while yesterday talking with one of his friends in Ohio. I can't wait to test it out myself!

Tuesday Trivia

Did you know...

~ Maine is the toothpick capital of the world

~ Des Moines has the highest per capita Jello consumption in the U.S.

~ Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head"

Confessions of a Boy Band fan

I admit, I am a boy band fan. My love for boy bands began when I was in first grade and discovered the New Kids on the Block. I had a New Kids pillowcase, some books, a watch, a towel, tapes and of course the trading cards. I had about 200 trading cards! I remember my mom would punish me when I was being a brat by taking away 5 cards at a time. Of course she knew that Joey McIntyre was my favorite and those were the first ones to go. Sad, I know, but I would cry when she took them away.

Then around 7th/8th grade came Hanson. I had the biggest crush on Taylor, the middle one/lead singer. I still love listening to MMMBop and even their new songs are good. I also thought it was cool that Taylor's birthday is on March 14, only 3 days before mine!

Shortly after Hanson, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys arrived on scene. You were either a fan of one or the other and I was loyal to NSYNC. I remember watching the NSYNC's 100 favorite videos special on MTV with my sister and learning the choreography to their songs. I also had the Official NSYNC book. Actually, I had two copies: one I bought myself and the other was a gift. One day, I was bored so I cut out all of the pictures of Chris from one of the books and taped them all over my sister, Mary's room. She found this hilarious and the pictures were passed back and forth between rooms for about a week. (I know, we are pretty easily amused!)

Along the way I fell in love with the British boy bands too: 5ive and BBMak. I was able to see BBMak in concert at the Michigan State Fair in downtown Detroit one year. That was a pretty sweet concert. However, my favorite British boy band is 5ive. I own two of their videos: one is about the band and a collection of their music videos and the second is a concert from their second album. Mary and I frequently watched these as well. 5ive was supposed to open at one of the NSYNC concerts we went to, but unfortunately they did not show up.

Anyways, today it was announced that the New Kids on the Block are reuniting! There is a bunch of info on their site NKOTB.com and this fall they are going to go on tour! I remember in the first grade my teacher, Mrs. Hea, took her daughter to see them and all of us girls were so jealous (well, I was anyways). If they make their way to the Charlotte area, I may just have to buy a ticket and go!

Crowned

I don't know about you, but one of the worst pains for me is a tooth pain. I hate feeling any pain in my teeth. Obviously, this mostly applies when I am actually at the dentist. Regular cleanings are fine, but I've had my share of fillings over the years. A few weeks ago I had my first visit with my new dentist down here and the hygienist looked in my mouth and said, "Well, you're no stranger to the dentist, eh?" No ma'am I'm not, but just because I've had multiple fillings does not mean I'm used to them. Anyways, I found out that day that one of my molars was fracturing and that I would need a crown. Ok, not the best thing I'd like to hear, but I've had one before. The previous crown was due to a root canal and, compared to the root canal experience, the crown was nothing. I went in for all of the drilling and stuff two weeks ago and everything went fine. Although apparently I was very expressive in my eyes; the hygienist said that I had a look of terror on my face. And, when the hygienist put in the temporary crown that day, she decided to floss around it too! This was not the smartest idea as the crown popped right off. This meant that I had to stay an extra 20 minutes so they could remove the old cement, put in the new one, let it sit and finish it up.

Today I went in for the permanent crown (it takes two weeks for it to be made). I get in the chair and the first question the hygienist asks is, "Do you want to be numbed?" Ummm, yes please!! She said that some people when they are getting the permanent one don't want to be numbed for it. Um, ok, I'd rather be numb in my gums all day than feel an ounce of paid during this procedure. I'm sure glad I got the shot too! After the dentist gave me the shot and took off the temporary crown, the hygienist came around and started to clean the old cement off. She started scraping and I could feel it a little bit but it wasn't terrible, then she blasts a burst of cold air on the tooth and I jerked my head away and let out a grunt of pain. She said, "Ok, well, let's just let that sit a bit and let the medicine take effect." Oh man, that one hurt, it felt like she got me right on the nerve. She left the room and I just prayed to God that I get through the rest of this visit without feeling a thing. Thank the Lord my prayers were answered! She came back about five minutes later and blew some air on the tooth and rinsed with some water and I did not feel anything! The rest of the appointment went well and I now have my new tooth.

I told Eric today that if this were twenty years ago, he'd have a wife with two gold teeth!

Tuesday Trivia

Today for Tuesday Trivia I'm going to share some of the top pranks that have been pulled on April Fools Day:

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest - In 1957, the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Instant Color TV - In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

The Left-Handed Whopper - In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

Click here to see some of the other top 100 April Fool's Day pranks of all time. They are pretty funny.

Babysitting 2

Well, I have to say, that was one of the easiest babysitting jobs I've ever had. The baby's name was Kate and she was 10 months old. Naturally, she was a bit shy when we first arrived but we spent some time with her, mom and dad before they left. She warmed up to us pretty quick! Mom and Dad left around 9:45 and we played a bit before her bottle feeding at 10. She was pretty tired and was dozing off a bit while I fed her. After the bottle we played some more - she loves her Baby ABC book - and then it was time for a nap at 10:30. We did have a poopie diaper to change before we put her down, but Eric and I tagged teamed it and it wasn't too bad. She slept for a good hour and a half and then Dad came home around 12:45. She was a super cute, very good baby. Not once did she cry! I hope our kids are like that with babysitters!

Babysitting

I can not remember the last time I babysat. It has to have been at least four years ago. However, I've had my share of not so fun times while babysitting. Once when I was babysitting the boys next door - ages about 6 and 3 - I was putting the boys to bed. Well, the younger one was not so happy about this. We sat and "talked" for a bit - he was mostly crying/screaming while I was trying to convince him to go to bed. Well, towards the end of the conversation he said, "I want to send you back to your house. I want to throw you out the window and send you back to your house." Lovely, huh? Another time, I was babysitting the girls across the street - ages about 11 and 8. They always had pretty crazy pets. Not crazy like iguanas or ferrets. They had cats and dogs, but their dogs were always crazy! Well, on this particular day we were playing outside when all of a sudden the dog went nuts! He was running all over the yard in a full sprint and coming up to us all crazy like. I did not grow up with dogs, or any animals for that matter, so I had no clue what this dog was up to! We couldn't make it back in to the house because he was blocking our path, so I did the next best thing - "Girls! Climb the tree!!" So we did. We had to have been in the tree a good 5 to 10 minutes watching this dog go berserk before a couple came by walking their dog. This occupied Fido long enough for us to jump down from the tree and race back in to the house. Fun times.

Anyways, today Eric and I are babysitting for some friends. They have a baby girl who is about 9 or 10 months old. Eric made sure last night that I remember how to change a diaper and care for a baby, which I do, but maybe today I will let him have the joy of doing those things. It will be good practice for the future! I'll let y'all know how it goes...

The XPS 420

Bear with me for a bit, this may be a pretty boring/nerdy post. For 4 years now, Eric and I have been talking about getting a new computer. He has a 7 year old desktop and I have a 6 year old laptop that we have been using, but both computers are pretty much maxed out. Eric has been waiting to have a dual core processor with at least 3GHz of speed. Well, his time has come to get his dream machine. Yes folks, 4 years later we got a new computer! This computer is amazing! It's super fast, Eric can now play any game he wants to and we have an ultra sharp, digital, 22" widescreen monitor - oh snap! We also got a blu-ray drive, so we can watch some HD movies on this thing.

However, not everything was smooth sailing. Eric has been customizing this machine for months now on the Dell website and knows this machine inside and out. When we got the package on Tuesday, the first thing Eric checked was to see if the tower had the correct power supply. (The original order did not have the correct power, so we had to re-order which delayed the arrival of the computer). Of course the tower had the incorrect supply and one of the cd/dvd drives was missing. Needless to say, Eric was on the phone with Dell first thing this morning and all night - 3 hours! - trying to get everything sorted out. I was very proud of him for being so patient with the customer service people who transferred him between 3 departments at least 8 times, I don't think my patience would have lasted that long. But, it all turned out ok and they are sending us the replacement parts.

All-in-all, I love this computer!

Tuesday Trivia

In 1899, the streets of New York City echoed with the voices of newsies, peddling the papers of Joseph Pulitzer, William Randalph Hearst, and other giants of the newspaper world. On every corner you saw them carrying the banner. Bringing you the news for a penny a pape. Poor orphans and runaways, the newsies were a ragged army without a leader, until one day all that changed.

Today I'll be sharing some trivia from the Disney Movie "Newsies." If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it -- its a classic! If you want a preview of the movie, click here and you can see the first few minutes.

It's a fantastic movie about the newsboy strike in 1899. It stars Christian Bale as "Cowboy" and David Moscow as "David." My sisters and I loved this movie when we were younger and we still quote the movie and sing the songs when we get together.

Now for some interesting facts from the movie:

~ Most of the cast trained in dance and martial arts for ten weeks before filming began.
~ Most of the newsies depicted in the film are based on real people from the strike, such as Spot Conlon, Racetrack Higgins and Kid Blink. Jack Kelly is a fictional character, although he may have been based on the real Kid Blink who was accused of being bribed by Pulitzer to end the strike.
~ At the time, this was one of the lowest grossing live action movies in Walt Disney history!
~ While Jack Kelly is singing Santa Fe, there is a part where he's riding a horse. The part when his arms are thrown out and he is bent back, he is actually riding on the shoulders of his stunt master.

Please enjoy the clip below. This is the song The World Will Know from the movie:

Christmas in March!

Yesterday Eric, Jessi, Kelly and I went uptown to see Michael Bublé at Bobcats arena. (This was part of our Christmas present from Mom & Dad Welch.)

After a nice dinner at Rock Bottom we made our way over to the arena. We arrived a little late, but got to see most of the opening act, Naturally 7. They are an acapella, or vocal play, group with the members "playing" drums, guitar, bass and harmonica with no instruments. They were pretty amazing and extremely talented.

Michael Bublé was awesome! He played all of my favorites - Feeling Good, Everything, Home, Save the Last Dance for Me and Song for You.

It was pretty cool during Home, they put a video together that played behind Michael as he sang the song. The video was a collection of images of Charlotte, UNC, NASCAR stuff and pretty much all things Charlotte. Also, one of the guys in his band is from Charlotte. In the middle of the concert Michael introduced the band and they did some solos. Well, after they were done the band got a standing ovation. Michael pretended to get mad and stormed off the stage. Well, the guy from Charlotte got up and started telling us how Michael was not really a nice guy, he never makes eye contact with them, they aren't allowed to talk to him, etc. So the Charlotte guy starts to sing to finish out the show (he was pretty good!) and Michael comes back on stage and started "playing" the trombone in his place. It was pretty funny.

Trivia Tuesday

Failte! (Welcome!)

Today's trivia is all about St. Patrick's Day. This is one of my favorite holidays as it is also my birthday! Yesterday I celebrated my 25th birthday!

Did you know...

~ St. Patrick was not born in Ireland, but in Britain.

~ St. Patrick brought public attention to the shamrock after using the three-leafed specimen to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to the pagan King Laoghaire of Tara.

~ St. Patrick's favorite color was blue, not green, and the people of Ireland weren't exactly fond of green either. According to them it was the color of the Fairies and Leprechauns and, unless you wanted to forcibly join the ranks of these wee folks, you would refrain from sporting that color too often. It wasn't until the 19th Century that green became the official color of Ireland.

I'll leave ya'll today with an Irish wish for friends:

Wishing you a rainbow

For sunlight after showers—

Miles and miles of Irish smiles

For golden happy hours—

Shamrocks at your doorway

For luck and laughter too,

And a host of friends that never ends

Each day your whole life through!

Unleash 2008

On Thursday, I had the privilege of going down to Anderson, SC for the Unleash 2008 conference. Elevation took 3 buses loaded with 151 volunteers down to New Spring Church for the event. What an amazing day! We ended up arriving at the church right as the event began. A couple volunteers from New Spring met us at our buses, gave us our Unleash materials and led us right in to the auditorium. The New Spring band led us in worship before Perry Noble came out to speak. Perry spoke from Luke 15: 25-31 asking three questions: What is it that God wants to do in my church? What are the barriers that stand in our way? What do we want to celebrate? At one point, Perry recognized Pastor Furtick and Elevation and he had to pause for a few minutes as the 4 rows of Elevators hooped and hollered for our amazing Pastor!

We then had a couple breakout sessions before and after lunch. I first attended the Volunteer Ministry/Guest Services session. New Spring's Volunteer Director led the session explaining how they get volunteers plugged in and their processes. Now, New Spring is kind of Elevation's older brother church, so there were a lot of similarities between their systems and ours. Nonetheless, it was interesting to learn how they do some things differently and think of ways to improve what I do as a volunteer coordinator. During our lunch break, I went to their resources desk and purchased a copy of Simply Strategic Volunteers by Tony Morgan and Tim Stevens. As I read the book, I'm hoping to learn even more ways to become a better leader. I'll let you know how it goes!

The second session I went to was Facilities/Campus Development. While this did not directly apply to the work I do at Elevation, it was interesting to hear New Spring's story of starting out renting facilities at Anderson College to, six years later, holding services in their own building with a 2,500-seat auditorium! Walking around their building all day, I could not help but imagine where Elevation could be six years from now. Will we have our own 40 acre campus with a state-of-the-art facility? Will we have multiple buildings throughout the Charlotte area? I don't know what God has in store for us, but I can't wait to find out!

In the afternoon, Perry preached from Exodus 4: 1-7 and focused a bit more on lead Pastors. As staff members, volunteers or attendees, we have no idea the struggles that our lead Pastors go through on a daily basis. Perry reinforced the fact that we need to consistently pray for our Pastor and be the staff for him to lean on. At the end, Perry asked that all lead Pastors in the room stand up. As all of the Pastors stood up, the entire auditorium began a round of applause in appreciation for all that they do for us and our churches. The applause had to have lasted at least five minutes before Perry led a prayer over the lead Pastors.

I am so thankful that we have a Pastor with such a laser sharp vision of reaching those far from God so they may be filled with life in Christ. I am so thankful that he will do anything and everything in his power to see that vision fulfilled. Pastor Furtick is truly an amazing leader for our Church and we are so blessed to have a Pastor that is focused on hearing from God and sharing His word with us each week. Pastor Furtick, thank you for all that you do for us at Elevation. I feel so blessed to have you as a Pastor and to be a part of this revolutionary move of God in Charlotte.

One of the greatest videos of all time...

"We are the world, we are the children..."

It is a Scallen/Orzechowski tradition to watch this video and sing at least 5 rounds of this song when we get together. Why? Well, because everyone needs to have a chance to sing a Michael Jackson and Biff (Steve Perry from Journey) solo!

We started out watching this on our VHS copy, but of course we now all own the 20th Anniversary edition on DVD.

I hope you enjoy...

Tuesday Trivia

Today's trivia is all about chocolate! Yummmmmo!

Did you know...

Americans consumed over 3.1 billion pounds of chocolate in 2001 - almost half of the total world's production.

Chocolate manufacturers currently use 40% of the worlds almonds and 20% of the world's peanuts.

Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous 45 second shower scene in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho.

In Hershey, Pennsylvania, the streetlights along Chocolate Avenue are in the shape of Hershey Kisses.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Today is my husband's birthday! Eric turns 25 today (quarter century in the hizz-ouse! lol) and I'm so excited to celebrate with him!




Eric, I'm so thankful to have you in my life. You are the kindest, most caring, most thoughtful man I know and I am so blessed to have you as my husband. Thank you for all you do for me. I hope you have a fantastic birthday!


I love you!

Trivia Tuesday....a day late :)

One thing I have wondered about for a while now is why the U.S. flag is backwards on military apparel. I figured there must be a good reason, but I just did not know what that reason was. On my way back to Charlotte on Sunday, I noticed that the flag was also backwards on the planes. Again, there must be a reason for this so I decided to do some digging when I got home...

Did you know that to wear our country's flag properly, the field of stars is worn closest to your heart? When the flag is worn on the sleeve of a military uniform, the flag should appear to be advancing and not retreating. Therefore, if the patch is to be worn on the LEFT sleeve, use a normal flag (also called a left flag). When a patch is worn on the RIGHT sleeve, use a reversed field flag (also called a right flag).

On a plane, the left flag is used on the left side of the plane, as usual. One the right, the reversed field flag is used so that the flag looks as if it is blowing in the wind created by the forward movement.

On the road again...

These weeks back home go by so fast! I can't believe it's time to go home already. This afternoon I am meeting my grandparents in Dearborn, MI for lunch. I'll visit with them for a bit and then head off to the airport for my flight back to NC. I can't wait to see Eric again. Being at my parents house like this feels like we are dating again! But I just remind myself that that is over now and I'm going home to him.

Below are a couple pictures from the snow fall we had this week:

Trivia Tuesday

In honor of the first real snow fall I've seen in the past year (4 inches last night!) below is an interesting fact about snow:

Snow at the North and South Poles reflect heat into space. The snow and ice act like a mirror with the heat of the sun and the heat bounces off the snow/ice and into space!

Hello Again!

Wow. It's been nearly a month now since I've last posted. I've had a bit of writer's block lately and haven't really had much to say I guess.


Earlier this month we celebrated Elevation's second birthday. It was a day full of events including a carnival themed volunteer push (we signed up over 500 new volunteers!), 165 baptisms in the afternoon and a rockin' concert in the evening!


The past two weeks I've been busy getting the new guest services volunteers plugged in to their first experiences. It's been a great experience. Everyone that I've talked with and spent time with over the past couple weeks have been super nice and just so excited and committed to volunteering. We are so blessed to have such a great new wave of volunteers joining the team.


Two weeks ago we had our first big win in flag football. All season we've played some competitive teams, but the opposing players have all been really nice. However, this time the team was not so nice. They had some big guys on their team who were really playing rough. Now, I'm no wimp, I can take aggressive, but these guys were just not playing fairly. Jessi got sandwiched between two guys trying to take her down and ended up with a golf ball sized bump on her knee and was limping the rest of the day, Jenny got knocked down to the ground and hit her head and had a bit of whiplash the next day and there were a few other penalties that they committed as well. On one play I went up for a catch and stoved my finger pretty bad. The finger looked like it was broken and it started swelling right away. Well, the finger swelled to about twice it's size and I still had my wedding band on (of course I had to hurt that finger, but thankfully I had taken off my engagement ring before the game). I ended up going to urgent care later in the day and they had to cut the ring off. Our bands are a little thick and it took the two nurses about 5-10 minutes to cut through the ring, then another 5-10 minutes to spread the ring apart far enough to get it over the enormous finger. I had a few x-rays and determined that it was not broken. Yea! Two weeks later and the middle knuckle is still swollen and bruised. It will go down eventually, but not as quickly as I had hoped.


Yesterday I made my way up to Detroit for a week in the office. I flew into Detroit Metro, made my way over to Hertz, got myself a sweet ride and made it to GP by about 7:30/8. I was greeted by my mom and dad and we watched some of the Oscars before I headed up for bed. Today was my first day in the Doner office since December and it was so nice to see everyone again. I also got to meet a few of my co-workers who I have only met over the phone. It's going to be a long week having to get up at 6am and actually drive in to work with rush hour, but I think I'll make it through. :)

Trivia Tuesday

If a statue of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all front legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

O Canada!

Today's Tuesday Trivia is dedicated to all things Canadian:

The name "Canada" is derived from the Huron-Iroquois word "kanata," meaning a village.

The Canadian national anthem, O Canada, has been sung since the late 1800s. However, it was not proclaimed Canada's National Anthem until 1980.

The 10th province to join the Confederation was Newfoundland. (Yea! Great Big Sea!)

Curling is the official sport of Saskatchewan. Nearly 1 million Canadians play the game and more than 3 million watch it on T.V.

Canadians consume more macaroni and cheese (or Kraft Dinner), per capita, than any other nationality on Earth.

Butler just became my favorite campus!

What a fantastic weekend!

I spent the day Saturday at the church offices training for a new volunteer position I'm moving in to at Elevation. In the morning, Larry spoke to the group and re-cast the vision of the church for us as well as filled us in on the culture of Elevation and the best way to explain it to volunteers. The afternoon was then spent learning our new database and practicing data-entry.

I am so excited and feel so blessed and privledged to be given this opportunity to become a leader in the church. While I know that I am going to struggle in the beginning with a couple aspects of this position, I believe that God has given me this challenge and, with His help, I will succeed.

God is doing amazing things through Elevation and I am honored to be a part of it. What a privledge to know that God has led me to this place to fill this role and help Elevation reach those far from God so they may be filled with life in Christ!

Megakatamar

When my sisters and I were younger (middle school-aged) we spent our summers making movies. My mom would go to work in the morning and leave us with a chore list to do. However, she would come home to a bigger mess than when she left (sorry mom!). My oldest sister, Katie, would take the lead as producer/director and Mary and I would be tasked to come up with props/set design. We were each responsible for our own costumes.

This would be a full day event. We made some chin-head videos, lip-sync concerts and murder mysteries. I would say our specialty was music videos with songs from Bon Jovi, Guns 'N Roses, Warren G and yes, even Hanson.

We eventually accredited the videos to our production company, Megakatamar Productions, and would enlist some help from our cousins at family parties or at the cottage. The Booth clan made some fantastic movies such as The Nativity Story, however the all-time classic is Trouble at Glitter Bay in which a developer is planning to ruin Mr. McGregor's land! Don't worry though, Mary, Hannah and Grace save the day!

When we found the video below on YouTube, we could not help but notice the similarities in the two brothers to my two sisters. This is just dead-on to what Katie and Mary would do. Katie would of course be the older brother trying to take a nice picture for mom, while Mary would be the younger, laid-back brother who ends up driving the older brother crazy.

Even if you don't know my sisters this video is still hilarious. Enjoy...

Trivia Tuesday

Did you know...

New Bern, NC is the birthplace of Pepsi?


It was invented in 1898 by Caleb Bradham in his pharmacy in New Bern and was first named "Brad's Drink." Bradham later patented the drink as Pepsi Cola and his pharmacy is now a Pepsi museum.


Find more information about New Bern and the Birth Place of Pepsi here.

Jesus Is Amazing

This video is just fantastic. I love it and I hope you enjoy it as well!

Bump-N-Run vs. Fun-N-Gun

Today was our first flag football game of the season. This is my first season playing with this team (and I think this is only their second season playing) and everyone on the team is really out to just have fun. We're not looking for the championship trophy or anything. Well, of course for our first game we had to be matched up against a really good team that, according to the refs, have been playing together for years. It was a good game though and our team improved as the game went on. We even scored a touch down! So it wasn't a complete blow-out. Thankfully the weather cooperated for us too. The weather reports said we would have snow and some accumulation by noon, but it only just started sprinkling as we left. Playing in the game today though made me realize just how out of shape I am. I was tired after the game, but also felt pretty good and ready to go about my day. That quickly changed when I got home. After a nice warm shower, comfy sweats, a pillow, blanket and a movie I was ready for a nap!

Let it Snow!

This morning I woke up with Eric telling me it had snowed! Finally it feels like winter down here. This is my first Southern snow experience and watching the news this morning was pretty entertaining. While some areas in the foothills/mountains received up to 4 inches, we had about half an inch to an inch on the ground in our area. There were extended news/weather/traffic reports this morning and an endless list of school closings scrolling across the screen.

Growing up in Michigan, we would need at least a foot of snow to get a school closing (I only have 2 clear memories of snow days). Since every school in the area was in walking distance or a short car ride away, the Grosse Pointe School system did not use buses. The city was very good with salting the roads and clearing sidewalks too, so it wasn't hard to get to school after a snow storm.

Throughout elementary and middle school we walked to school and even if there was less than a half an inch of snow on the ground (and what was on the sidewalks had already melted) my dad would make us wear boots. It was such a hassle to have to wear boots, carry a pair of shoes and then change at school, especially when it was not entirely necessary. I remember many mornings when my sisters and I would try to talk ourselves out of having to wear them, but there was no talking him out of it. When we were younger, sometimes mom would help us sneak out, but once we got older it became easier just to zip out of the house without dad seeing what was on our feet.

To end my post today, I'll share a pic from Maddy's first Christmas:

Trivia Tuesday

Welcome to the first installment of Trivia Tuesday. Each week we will learn an interesting new fact. Enjoy!

Did you know...

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating!

Jeremiah 1:5

As I grow in my relationship with God, one thing I find myself struggling with is seeking God's advice/help with everything. If I come across a problem or a tricky situation during the day, sometimes I'll just try and figure out how to handle things on my own or I'll ask my husband for help rather than seeking God.

I just finished reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and it opened my eyes to this fact. The main male character would seek God in everything he did every day of his life. He lived his life to fulfill the will of God.

I pray that as I strengthen my relationship with Jesus, I would seek Him in all that I do and live my life to fulfill His will. As Pastor Furtick said last week, God created each of us for a divine destiny. I need to seek God daily and work toward fulfilling the divine destiny that God has planned out for me.

Don't Worry About It

When I entered college, I decided to not let things stress me out too much. Of course if I had a major paper or presentation assigned, I would stress out a little bit. But I would not let the day-to-day happenings get to me. When I found myself getting stressed, I would take a deep breath and remember that God will get me through anything. There isn't anything that, together, He and I can't handle. I also repeated Matthew 6:34 to myself numerous times:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The other night, my devotional led me to the Deuteronomy 31:9:

The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

This passage reminded me that God is always with me. There is no reason to worry about today or get stressed out that things are not going to turn out ok. They will.

Things may not be perfect or the way you would like them to turn out, but God will take care of you. He will be with you and He will never leave you.

Happy New Year!

I still can't believe it's 2008 already! This year has gone by super fast. A year ago, Eric was moving down to NC and I was mid-way through planning our wedding. Now, we are settled into our apartment in Charlotte, becoming more involved in our Church and loving every minute of it and we have Maddy to keep us company. Looking back on everything that happened in '07 - Eric's job, the wedding, our move, my job transition, finding our Church and friends - I feel so blessed that everything was so smooth. God has been very good to us and I'm looking forward to finding out what He has in store for 2008!