The Arrival

Texas Independence Day Celebration has officially begun. Today was an amazing day for anyone...but especailly for a history major! The original Texas Declaration arrived to the museum. It was a major media event so we had to make it spectacular. The document arrived to the museum by way of a horse-drawn stagecoach. Toward the end of last year, individuals took part in an auction to get a seat on the stagecoach with the documents. So these 6-7 individuals rode from Independence Hall to the museum in the stagecoach. I had the task of taking pictures for the museum. I was positioned on the observation deck of the second floor so I could get a birds-eye view. Behind the stage coach four Texas Rangers (how cool) rode on horses. The Texas Rangers then carried the box with the documents up to the museum. We had a state representative there to make a small speech. Then we allowed the media and special guest into the Discovery Room where the documents were set up. One of the special guests was Sam Houston IV--the great, great grandson of Sam Houston! I took a picture of him next to our signers painting which has a portrait of Houston and I could see quite a resemblance. Later this evening I watched the highlights of the momentous event on the news. It was such an exciting and riviting event and I was so glad I was apart of it! The declaration will be at the museum from March 2-March 16 so if you can you should try to come out and see it!

Hopefully tomorrow I will put some pictures up from the event...I took some good ones. Robin you would be proud!

This Day...

Sundays have become my favorite day of the week. So many wonderful, uplifting things happen on Sundays. I start the morning off with my sweet 3-year-olds who through their innocence and love of life teach me new things each week. Then I spend an hour praising and worshiping along with fellow Christians. This Sunday at church our preacher mentioned that some of the soldiers in Iraq have been downloading the services from the internet. So to show our appreciation for their service we gave them a round of applause, hoping they would be able to download that section of the service. I don't know why but this simple act got to me. I guess being in a ritual of daily tasks I sometimes forget about the war going on and the men and women who are living a less than ordinary life.

This Sunday I had a wonderful time fellowshiping. After Sunday morning church I went to lunch with Natalie, one of the girls from my devo. We went to Cheddar's and we each ordered a great chicken fried steak dinner. That evening I sat with Natalie and Amanda for the evening service. They were planning to watch a movie at their house and invited me to come. So I spent the evening hanging out with two great girls, watching Flight Plan, and eating chocolate cookies. Amanda is my age and went to ACU so we had a lot to talk about. And Natalie showed me her autographed picture of David Duchovny which made my evening!

I'm watching Emma this evening. Mr. Knightly can definately perk up an evening :)

A Few Random Thoughts

This week has flown by very quickly. The atmosphere at the museum is a little stressed/on pins and needles. Mainly Houston, the director of the museum is feeling this way and passing on the anxiety to all of us. Next weekend is the big Texas Independence Day Celebration and we have to be ready for it. The most important thing that must get done is the exhibit room for the actual Texas Declaration of Indepenecence.

My task for the big celebration is the Art Contest that we run for the 4th graders in neighboring schools. Last weekend I sorted through and pre-judged almost 200 projects (half of which were pictures of the Alamo). This week I have met the judges, calculated the winners, called the trophy store with the winners' names, printed certificates, made labels for the winning projects, and sent out letter to the winning students. It's been a whirlwind for me...and my desk is showing the signs. Before Saturday I have to work on the speech Anne and I give at the Awards Ceremony!

I meant to write this a couple of weeks ago. In this month's issue of Texas Highways there is a large article about Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park (where I work). If you are bored and want some good reading material I suggest this magazine. I actually haven't read the article yet--it's been passed around the office and hasn't made it way to me. I've heard it is very good.

Today on my way to work I saw a cow/bull with his head stuck in the barbed wire fence. I felt so sorry for him. I had a strong urge to stop and get him out. How scary would it be to be stuck in a painful situation that you couldn't get out of? Hopefully when I leave today someone will have rescued him.

Sugar Pie, HONEY Bunch

I have to admit that my favorite condiment is honey. Some may say that honey is not a condiment but I stand by my statement. Two of my favorite snacks/desserts involving honey are graham crackers with honey and wheat tortilla dipped in honey.

When I go to Grandy's I always order the chicken nugget meal which includes chicken nuggets, french fries, and a roll. And I eat all of these with honey. I've had a lot of people react with disgust to this. But I love it! I started this as a kid and the habit has stuck.

Here's another honey story that I don't think I've told anyone. Back when I worked at Kirkland's I would get a little hungry during my long shifts. We had a bag of honey packets in case we got a buscuit from Chick-Fil-A. So I would occassionally eat a honey packet--straight up!

**Favorite conversation from this weekend***
Scene: Christy and I at the mall
-Christy: I'm pretty thirsty
-Me: Well, you know it is happy hour
-Christy: Erin!
-Me: I mean at Sonic. (as I point to the Sonic in the mall)

Food and Fellowship

The A&M Church of Christ has a time of food and fellowship on every 3rd Sunday night. We spend 20-30 minutes in the auditorium and then we all move to the gym area to fellowship. Tonight the menu was sandwiches, chips, and desserts. I ate with a group of girls from my girls' devo: Mandy, Claire, and Amanda Scott (who graduated from ACU). It was a wonderful night. I am always amazed at the ways this church works at bringing it's members together.

Because of the cold weather we have had down here I've developed a strange food feddish/craving. I've been eating a lot of potato soup and crossiants. Tomorrow I have a lunch date with Valerie and I picked McAllisters Deli...mainly because I can get a bread bowl with potato soup!

Christy comes into town tomorrow and I can't wait! Who knows what kind of fun we will have.

Wolf Pen--My New Favorite Part of Town!

Tonight after work I took a quick spin to the mall. For the first time I decided to go home by means of the road that runs behind the mall. Since I had never gone down this road I was really, really hoping that it would lead to another road that I was familiar with.

I happened to find some new places to explore. On this street is Wolf Pen Park which apparently is split up in several areas. From what I could see as I drove past it has many walking paths with an occasional bridge. I can't wait to find time to spend in this special place. As I passed this area I also notice a lot of people walking in the same direction toward a large building. I soon saw what the large public draw was: The Wolf Pen Ice Skating Rink! You have no idea how excited I was/still am. I love ice skating! My grandparents use to take me all the time to the Galleria in Dallas. Of course I haven't been since I was about 10, but I am very ready to take those skates up again (especially after watching the Olympics). Hopefully I can find some individuals who would like to go with me!

100th Blog

This is my 100th blog--whoa! Happy 100th blog day!

Today I woke up with a sore throat. The rest of me felt fine, it just hurt whenever I swallowed. I had 2 tours to give so that didn't help my throat. By the end of the day my throat still hurt, I started coughing, and I had a few moments of dizziness. I really can not get sick right now. The art contest has begun and I have lots to do starting tomorrow.

After work I went and bought some potato soup and crossiants...along with a couple Cadbury Cream Eggs :) I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight to try and ward off these icky feelings.

Friendly Visit

Christy Weather's is coming to visit me! She called me today with the wonderful news; she has a non-profit job fair to attend in Houston on Tuesday. She is going to come into College Station Sunday and stay with me that night and Monday night. And since I have Monday off we can spend some time around town...who knows what trouble we will get into!

I found out at the beginning of this week that my sister, Traci, got her hair cut. She wanted it to look like Natalie off of Monk. Apparently it is very short. I have yet to see it. My mom said that she's had a few negative comments about it and I think it has made her a little self-conscious. What I love about Traci is that she is not afraid of things. She doesn't worry alot about what people think--sometimes I wish I had that quality. I wish I could be in Abilene to comfort her over this new change. If any of you in Abilene happen to see her, would you please compliment her on her hair?

Post V-Day

My dad came through! When I got home from work I checked my mail and there was a Valentine's card waiting for me with an apology for not being able to fit a rose inside.

When I reached my apartment door there was another surprise awaiting me. Outside my door there was a vase with a dozen yellow roses and a heart shaped candy box. Along with the presents was a very sweet note from a kind and courageous friend from college--his name will remain annonymous to protect the innocent. I was very, very flattered.

My party went very well. 3 girls from my devo showed up along with Heather a little later. I believe all of the girls from the devo are sophomores at A&M or Blinn College. Before we started a movie I had to introduce them to the special hidden interview on LOTR Return of the King (Rachael you would be so proud of me spreading the word). The girls had never seen Breakfast at Tiffany's so I enlightened them--such a great movie! The movie ended around 9:30 and we began talking, girl's favorite pasttime. They ended up staying until 11:30. I loved getting to spend this time with these girls and becoming closer to them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone has had and will continue to have a wonderful Valentine's Day! This is my first V-Day away from my family. My dad would always get me a rose and sometimes something else special. When I worked in the Provost office he would leave it on my desk so it would be a nice suprise.

Work has been very fast paced today. We had a group of 130 7th graders come for tours in the morning time. They were some of the best behaved middle schoolers we've had so far. Then after tours I had lots of phone calls to make--mostly people I had ignored during History Fair craziness. Even though it gets a little chaotic at times, I love this job and am so happy I took it!

On Tuesday nights I usually have my girls devo but since it it Valentine's Day we canceled it for this week. So instead I have invited a group of girls from that devo (those that didn't have plans already) to come to my apartment for movies and special Valentine treats. I'm really excited--this is my first time to entertain people in my apartment! Last night I baked brownies and placed pink hearts on top with icing. I also found this cookie decorating set that has edible messages that you stick on top of cookies with icing. I mixed up a pitcher of pink lemonade kool-aid and watermelon kiwi kool-aid. I hope a good group of girls come over--I really want to get to know them better.

I saw another person I know from Abilene today. Taylor Black--a guy I went to high school with and haven't seen since high school. In fact he sort of dropped off the radar after high school. Christy, Trish, Heather, Kelly, and I use to discuss how none of us knew where he was...or if he was alive. After church today I went to lunch with a group from the college class. As I was leaving I noticed a family getting into the car next to me and it was Taylor! He was visiting his sister. He graduated from UT and is now living in New York. How weird is it that we would see each other in College Station?

Sidenote: I have a hard time letting people know what I am truely feeling inside. This includes myself.

Fancy Seeing You Here

I had a really interesting evening after work. I decided to do some window shopping that might turn into real shopping (and it did). I went to Pier One, hoping to use my gift card, and a few moments after entering the store I heard a man's voice say "Well, look it's Erin Crawford." I looked up and there was Thom Lemmons along with Heather Lemmons! I was so excited! I had been meaning to get together with Heather since she just recently moved to College Station.

Then after Pier one (where I did use my gift card on two end table stands) I went to browse around Target...one of the best stores ever. While there I saw Hannah Kemp who was my roommate at Junior Scholars and who went to ACU. She was there with her fiance registering. She moved down to College Station for a job. It's so weird that in the same night I saw people I knew from Abilene.

I Survived History Fair

Well, History Fair is officially over and everyone survived. For the most part it went very smoothly. It was a good day...but I am very tired. So here are some highlights from the day:

* Getting up at 6:00
* Driving in the dark and the rain
* Maning the Judge table
* Meeting some nice guys who are students at Blinn :)
* Receiving a walkie talkie to use for the day (only a few select received these)
* Pretty much being second in charge (only because I was the one who knew more about what was going on)
* Judging 2 documentaries, an exhibit, and a performance
* Huge rain storm at around 1:30--kids having fun in the rain
* Being the photographer at the awards assembly
* Giving Anne, my boss, roses for her immense work on the event
* Getting to sit down at 4:45

A New Start

So in my last post I talked about how I needed some help with my walk with God. Well, I had such an uplifting time at church. After church time I talked with Valerie for a bit and discussed times to get together for lunch. Then I saw Andrei who I hadn't seen since I left for my Christmas break. So we spent a long time catching up on things--I didn't leave church until 9:00. He heads up a non-profit organization that supports orphans in Romania. So I think I'm going to sign up to support an orphan. Our class on Wednesday nights has a spiritual journal that leads you through the week that you can buy. I haven't bought one but Andrei had one and talked about how wonderful it was. Since I didn't have one he gave the one he had to me! He told me he bought alot of them and just hands them out to people. So I am very excited about using this as a start on my spiritual journey!

Tomorrow is History Fair! We have been insanely busy all week--making packets, having orientation meetings, setting up tables, staying at work till 6:00. I have to be there at 7:30 which means I have to leave my apartment at 7:00--a coke will be needed in the morning.

Our girl's devo is not meeting this Tuesday because of Valentine's Day. So I am trying to get a group of the girls together for dinner and a movie that night--some classic girl time!

Deligence in My Walk with God

It amazes me how God works in our lives. Over the past few months I have had times when I would be struggling with an issue and God would place a person or words that would relate to what I was going through.

Tonight at my Girl's Devo I realized my relationship with God is not where it should be. We are studying the characteristics of a woman of God. Tonight we talked about being a woman of deligence. Through our discussion, Valerie (who is married) talked about how when you are married you loose alot of your time...mainly your time for God. I began to think about the fact that I have lots of time. Time that I am truely thankful for. Time that I can devout to God in many ways--prayer, study, service, and even just sitting in silence listening for His words. I don't think I appreciate or take advantage of all the possiblities I have in my life.

Judge Erin

Back from a great weekend in Abilene. I had so much fun getting to see all my girls! I really do miss all of you. We should start a monthly weekend thing...something to think and plan on...

Since I usually work on Saturdays I had to switch my work time. That means I am going to work Monday-Saturday this week. And it's going to be very busy because Friday is History Fair and there is lots to be done. Also Friday I have to be at work by 7:30--yuck! But I found out today I get to be one of the judges! I will be judging the projects on WWII and pick the best one. I'm really excited about that!

Last week I noticed that Walgreen's had Cadbury Cream Eggs out already. Those are without a doubt my favorite candy. I was so excited that they were out so early. So tonight I went back to get one...or two. When I got there they magically morphed in to Crunch and Butterfinger Eggs. Apparently they ran out a few days ago. So I had to settle for a Butterfinger Egg. I learned a lesson tonight--don't ever settle.

Does anyone watch Grey's Anatomy? If so...wow, what an episode!