A Diva is female version of a Hustler.

Tuesday morning.
The Pagemaster is on as I write this!
Ah, this was one of my very favorite movies when I was little. I watched it all the time. My mom liked it because it taught about books like Moby Dick, Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, and other big time need to know books.

Last night was a girl's night at Lindsay's house.
We all dressed up crazy in her clothes and had a dance party.
We filmed a part of it (in which i look rather unfortunate) and I'm pretty sure Lindsay is putting it on Facebook....
She also put up photos.

I wore sweat pants tucked into high heel boots, a white Hanes v-neck tee-shirt, suspenders, and a black tie.
Also, we teased up my already large and in charge hair.

It was a really "special" time.....really. But it was awesome.

Thursday at 3 A.M. our mission team leaves for Honduras! It's craziness that it is already here. I've got a lot of last minute shopping and packing to do today. But, for right now I'm just chilling because I have plenty of time today.

This year's trip to Honduras is going to be a totally different experience. Last year we didn't get to help at the Hospital because of Swine Flu, and then we didn't get to go to the orphanages and into the city because of the political problems. I'm slightly nervous this year because I just don't know what to expect. It's really exciting though. I'm really happy to get to go to the orphanages and to pass out food at the dump.

Just pray we don't have to "flee" the country again this year.

But really, please pray for the TORCH team as we go to Honduras. I really want the oppurtunity to bless as many people as possible and hopefully our hearts and eyes will be opened to how wonderful we have it here in America. This is going to be a life changing event, for everyone involved. Hopefully.

That'll take you far in life.

Okay, you must know that this week was IMPACT at my beloved Lipscomb University.
You must also know that it was a grand time, I severly enjoyed it.
And you must know that I am only adding more than one photo because I actually have some time to myself to sit and blog. Good stuff.

These are two of my best friends: Ashley and Rebecca.
We are being sharks while waiting for some festivities to start.

This is Jake Parsley on a carousel because he is special.

I laughed. A lot.

The theme this year was buried.Alive! and it was mainly based on the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew. We talked about the things we bury ourselves in--the things we set our minds on (fame, wants, fears, anger, jealousy etc.) and how we need to bury ourselves and come alive in Christ. We talked about how as Christians we need to die to ourselves to truly live for Christ (trust me, Jeff Walling really stressed the death part...of course.)

It was a really good week of spiritual discussion (especially the small groups with the girls and the people of the youth group!) All of the classes were wonderful, you could really tell that everyone put a lot of heart and thought into it. One of my favorite classes (besides Gary's of course) was Danny Gregg's. His was tiitled "The Meak Ain't Weak" and he talked about how being meak doesn't mean being a doormat. Jesus overturned tables when he saw what his place of worship had been turned into.

Sometimes I find myself in situations where I KNOW I need to say or do things (even get angry) to make sure people know what they are doing could hurt them or someone else physically or emotionally. And, usually wanting to be a peacemaker and let them do it, not wanting a conflict. Thinking that God is JUST happy that I am not helping. Maybe God needs me to overturn some tables everyonce in a while. Maybe people need me to overturn their tables and I'm just standing by watching their lives turned into chaos. Not wanting to anger them or upset them.

But by not stopping or yelling or crying out, am I helping them hurt themselves? Yeah, I think so.

Ugh, it's such a simple thing. Why can't I ever grasp onto the easiest things but dive head-first into the complex things?

Oh, p.s. Rebecca and I applied to Lipscomb!
Ah, I had been waiting for so long.
It felt so good to finally fill out those forms.

Must sleep now.

I'm really into the whole Irish rock band thing right now...
The Pogues
The Dropkick Murphys
Flogging Molly
The Tossers
The Young Dublins.....

I have no idea why I love it so much. Today I was mopping my bathroom. I sat my laptop on the toilet and flipped to my Pandora station of my Irish favorites and danced and clapped and mopped to Irish lyrics I don't really understand.

I've decided that Pixar 3-D films are magical. Ugh, so good.

Today, we went to go see Toy Story 3. You know what's very strange?
Andy and I are the same age.
Weird.
I've literally grown up with the Toy Story movies.
That makes me feel young and old at the same time.

My room is currently being painted yellow.
I mean, HELLO I'M YELLOW sort of yellow. And it's glorious.

Walked in the Relay for Life today. It was really great.
You know how you see the commercials and people are all decked out in pink or whatever color to support their loved ones? Not so at this one. Rebecca and I wore all out pink--leggings, tee-shirts, hats, bandanas, ribbons, glow sticks...you name it. And we were the only ones. Darci was going to meet us.
She asked how she was going to find us.
We told her that she couldn't miss us.

They do this thing were they put candles in white bags with names of people have dealt with, lost a battle to, or won a battle with cancer all around the track. And they light them up. Ugh, there was way to much light. For such a small Relay for Life they pretty much circled the whole track.

Kinda broke my heart.

They set the bags with candles in the bleachers in the shape of the word Hope then changed it to CURE.

I wish it would come. I'm sure everyone does.

I should do the dishes now.

It's a Thursday and I am doing NOTHING and it's WONDERFUL!
I made oatmeal and sat my bottom on our fluffy white couch so I could write a blog post.
I turned on Golden Girls.
I love Betty White.

To the left is one of my senior photos that Jean Sowders took! She's amazing, really. It's very strange (and exciting) to think that my next school year will be my senior year. Hey College, only 180 more school days then I will be coming!

IMPACT is this upcoming Monday. This is exciting!
July 1st is the day we head out to Honduras. This is very exciting!
And you know what else is exciting? The fact that I don't have anything planned today so I'm going to veg like it is nobody's business!

When I sleep I turn my air conditioner down very low and pile on tons of blankets. That way I can bury myself in them. I did that last night and when I woke up this morning all but one thin quilt had slipped off my bed. Even my sheet had slipped from under my quilt (how did that happen?). So, I woke up frozen with tons of sunlight pouring in from my window. I haven't made new curtains yet, so the light really comes in the window in the morning.

It was really peaceful. I haven't felt that peaceful in a really long time. So, I laid there for an hour just because I could.

Wall-E ate holes in my purse.

Woah, summer. Slow down a little, huh?

I have two fish now (pictured left). Phil is the large one, and the minuscule one is named Gertrude. And they are alive despite my normal reputation for fish and plant care.

This whole week was camp, and it was wonderful. College week of camp is so intriguing and relaxing and comfortable and a little bit inappropriate sometimes.

And I flipping love it.

At the end of the week we talked about how we were going to change...well that's the bast of the talk. Anyway, I thought about how much I wish away things. How I look to the future and forget about the things going on everyday of my life.

I want to run off to Lipscomb so badly, and want to be in the next phase of my life. I feel like I belong there.
I focus so much on that, I'm sure I've missed relationships, oppurtunities, and chances to really help people. How many times have I walked through my day wishing I was somewhere else, when someone needed me to just be here? How often have I missed a time God placed someone in the place I was, when my mind was focused on being somewhere else.

It really troubles me. I need to focus on the little things and really live each day! Melissa Girl, this is your life! Where are you? You're not at Lipscomb yet, my friend. So be focused on here while you are here!

Okay, enough yelling at myself. Tomorrow morning Caroline, Rebecca, and my other wonderful friends are going to the farmer's market in a nearby town. I'm really excited!