inclement weather update

within the past two weeks:
- we have had 5 snow days, which has caused me to:
1. spend more time working from home than at the BSM
2. cancel 7 BSM events
3. had to reschedule lunch with the same student 4 times

- my pipes froze & unfroze at my house... without bursting

- we've seen temperatures in the 60s and experienced -6 degree wind-chills

in honor of the big 3-0

in honor of the big 3-0, i bought myself an age appropriate gift.

not only am i now the proud owner of a marshmallow gun (i've wanted one for years), but it's a rapid-fire one... it shoots 12 marshmallows at once.

Never thought I'd be so excited to see 95 degrees as the high!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

nashville's flooded

i went to college in nashville, tn at belmont university. for 4 years, nashville was home. as most of you know, nashville is dealing with some severe flooding. many of my college friends are dealing with flooded homes and roads.

here's a video of the opryland hotel. i worked there as a valet parker my senior year of college. this is crazy to see.

i've been gone for a while

so much has gone on lately that the idea of writing has been overwhelming. not because i don't know what to say, but because there's so much to say.

in the past few weeks... i've watched God work in amazing ways. lost loved ones, went to 2 funerals in less than 24 hours. cried. laughed. celebrated life. couldn't sleep at night. napped on the couch during the day to try and make up for it. experienced God's grace in unexpected ways and places.

i've attempted to describe the past few weeks in a slew of run-on sentences, because that's exactly what it felt like... everything ran together.

i'll end by saying... there is victory in Jesus.

an interesting encounter tonight...

i spent some time at a starbucks in ft. worth tonight... so did santa.

Dinner.

Dinner.

Stephanie Gates
Www.stephaniegates.blogspot.com
-- Sent from my Palm Pre

It's gonna be a good night away.

Stephanie Gates
Www.stephaniegates.blogspot.com
-- Sent from my Palm Pre

9 inches

here's a picture that my friend susan took of the snow.

that says 9 inches.

quotable.

pomplamoose music

dude. check this out. weird name but creative music... here's a brilliant remake of a somewhat popular song.

facebook-ers... click here to see the video.

This is what I have to look forward to when I wake up.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

It's only just begun.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Ringing in the new year the right way. Good friends and good snacks.

Ringing in the new year the right way. Good friends and good snacks.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

snow

Went to the corpus christi country club to look @ lights. This is what I found.

Went to the corpus christi country club to look @ lights. This is what I found. Either Christmas threw up... or it's on crack.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

a new song.

i co-wrote a song with a friend this past year that she put on her recently released album. you should check it out...click here: http://bit.ly/6A1sOd.

if you would like to hear samples of the complete album (and purchase it of course), visit itunes. (artist: jodie wachsmann, album: hope in the unseen).

what's your theme song?

i love music, but i no longer consider myself a music snob. gone are the days that i spend more money on music than anything else. while i am sure that i do spend more money on music than the average person, my music budget has diminished significantly. i guess that's what happens when you grow up.

my taste ranges from CCM (contemporary Christian) to top 40... basically, anything from amy grant to jason mraz. throw in some "good" country and r&b and i'm a happy girl. i like variety. i'm rarely without my ipod, so that i can listen to what i like... when i like... b/c the radio rarely satisfies my musical moods.

i associate songs to situations going on in my life. i can hear a song and be instantly transported back in time and remember where i was and what i was doing when that song began to mean something to me. here are some examples:

when i hear "all star" by smash mouth... my best friend and senior year of high school instantly comes to mind.

rob thomas and santana's "smooth"... reminds me of my freshmen year of college and one of my college roommates.

brandon heath's "i'm not who i was" ... a painful loss of a friend.

some of my theme songs of this past year would have to be:

• john mayer's "i'm in repair"
• hillsong's "hosanna" by brooke fraser
• natalie grant's "perfect people"
• "deciphering me" by brooke fraser
• "all the good things" by jill phillips
• "just as i am" by jourdan burks

what about you? what are some of your theme songs?

i like steak. potatoes. shrimp. and pineapple.

a few weekends ago, i spent a saturday afternoon and evening with my friends the dewoodys. we started off our afternoon adventure by watching the wolverine movie. after that, we decided that we needed to find something for dinner. not just any random food would suffice that evening though. we hit up kroger to buy a plethora of red meat, potatoes, pineapple and shrimp.

everything was grilled on the dewoody's brand new cast iron grill pan (the billowing smoke was totally worth it!). susan wrote all about our meal on her blog as well, you can read it here. i took care of the steaks while susan totally owned the pineapple.

here are some pictures... (courtesy of susan's camera and blog).

brown sugar grilled pineapple. marvelous.

needless to say, we ate good. jealous?

this ended up on facebook

this picture of me just ended up on facebook... you never know what's going to pop up.