Sandra and the Cirque

Last Wednesday night, Amy Mo, Courtney and I went to see the Cirque du Soleil that had set up tent this month at Atlantic Station. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to this after seeing a couple of documentaries about it on the Bravo channel. If you don't know about this show, it's basically a drama with music and a plot, but the "actors" are more like acrobats and creative gymnasts. They can do the craziest movements with their bodies while doing them suspended in mid-air or on top of a 20 foot ladder, for example. The show is simply mind-boggling. I was totally enthralled with it the whole time and was super sad when it was over! There's also different types of shows that Cirque does, so I'm totally going back. The one we saw was called "Corteo". I heard there's one in Las Vegas that they do completely underwater.

I also got to meet for the first time one of my most favorite musicians, Sandra McCracken, who was playing at Eddie's Attic, opening for Scott Miller last Thursday night. After Fouk hooked me on her music last summer in Kenya, I've been dying for a chance to go see her. Jamie, Courtney, Dr. Dilly and Laura were going and they told me about it, so I went along. We got there pretty early and there ended up being a small period of time where it seemed appropriate for me to go up and meet her and they were all encouraging me to do it. So I walked up there and told her how much her music meant to me and how I started listening to it in Kenya when we were on safari and did the ipod shuffle so we were all listening to each other's ipods on the way. She was super nice and thanked me a bunch. For some reason I choked up when I shared this so I just said thanks too and left. It was so awesome to meet her though and it was a great concert even if it was just for an hour.

Here's some sample lyrics for ya from her song "Shelter" which is on her new CD called "Gravity Love." You can get a glimpse for the depth of her songwriting:

In the arms of a good Father
You can go to the deep water
Where the questions, we have left unspoken
Come out in the open
We will find shelter here

So I lay down, what I cannot hold in my hands
Every sorrow and hope spinning out of control
And here I find sweet resolution comes in letting go
And we will find shelter here

When I look back I can see,
And when I am old I'll remember these things
Like a mountain of stone
And the longing that makes me believe�

There is a tree by the blue river
Where the shade stretches wide over
In this breaking we are hand and glove
Come with me my love
We will find shelter here
We will find shelter here�

I just can't quit you

Well it looks like I won't be leaving MTW afterall.

Last Thursday I was offered a dream position that would allow me to stay at MTW and still go to school full-time. Due to some recent restructuring in the recruitment department, there was an opening for someone to start working part-time right now, which coincides with my planned departure from the internship department and MTW as a whole or so I thought. Recruiting at MTW is talking to new folks who hear about MTW somehow which is usually through a friend, church, or our website. Recruiters also from time to time speak at conferences and pass out information at our booth when we have on display at different times throughout the year. I've been able to do some recruitment stuff on the side several times, and would require virtually no training to do this job. Plus, I can set hours that work with my class schedule and do almost all of the work from home. It's amazing. I'm already familiar too with the other recruiters in that department because we work closely with them in the department I am leaving. It's such a blessing to be able to do this and stay connected with MTW while I finish up my degree. I'm not totally sure of all the details but it looks like I will be starting my new position in February.

God's timing is always perfect!!

This never happens

I am so excited to be able to be a bridesmaid for the fourth time in my friend Gina's wedding this June!! She asked me yesterday and I was super pumped. We have been friends for 5 1/2 years and have worked side by side at MTW that whole time. We started working in the same department just one month apart from each other. That's really the way to get to know a person that's for sure!

She met Dave in March of 2005 and have been dating ever since. I can't be more happy for both of them as they are now planning their wedding after spending a lot of time preparing for their marriage.

So the other amazingly cool thing is that the bridesmaid's dress Gina picked out for us is the exact same one my sister-in-law Shannon picked out for her wedding last September. When Gina showed me the picture I was pretty convinced it was the same one. We confirmed it today at David's Bridal!! Unbelievably I get to wear my pretty wine-colored, beaded dress one more time.

I know, this like never happens.

Football game of doom turned...pretty darn fun

Last weekend we had an all-time record high of 73 degrees on Sunday here in Atlanta, so a group of us made the most of it and went to Piedmont park to play some football. Our motivation was to not only make the most of the beautiful weather, but for the girls to hopefully regain some pride by instigating a rematch game against the guys and actually winning. The first match took place in September 2005 on the beach weekend in Destin. The girls got their aces whooped and yours truly was carrying the offense at quarterback. I guess a year and a half is enough time to forget the sting of defeat and for my team to believe I still was qualified enough to throw some passes, because we really thought we had a chance. After I threw two interceptions and we only made it to the halfway point once, I declared our rematch to be over and humbly asked to switch up teams. We really weren't doing sooo bad but it's hard too when a lot of people have never played before and I was the tallest girl by far. Tubbs and Jeremy could just sweep in front of 5-foot-1 Christina like she wasn't even there. Oh well. Our team did quite awesome when we mixed things up. Here are some pictures of the action. The guy running with the football is Chuck and he was on my team- sweet. Hadleigh is my friend Ami's daughter and she wanted to join the action really bad you could tell!!

The news is out

I finally sent the email out to my missionaries and some office staff that I'm leaving MTW on January 31. Once I actually took the time to write it it didn't feel so weird to send it. I just couldn't bring myself to write it. When it was out, it didn't take long before I was getting responses, and many were so encouraging. It was so nice hearing from them and how many have enjoyed working with me.

One of the more encouraging/hilarious emails come from Seth in our home office who works on the other side of the cubicle from me. He wrote:

After countless hours of meetings and deliberation, we, the Special Council on the Departure of Jessica, respectfully request you to submit a variety of your exclamations in audio form for the purpose of creating a “Jessica Button.” The Jessica Button will be readily available to all in the ST…er, I mean Global Support Ministries side of the office. When pressed, random Jessica-isms will be broadcast through a speaker to fondly remind us of you. Some of the most requested exclamations have been, “Oh my gosh,” “Sweeet,” “no way!” and “shut up.”

Respectfully Submitted,

The Special Council on the Departure of Jessica

I don't know if what I have to say is that memorable, but I know I really have been working with the most awesome group of coworkers ever.

My aunt Tanya

This week I had the opportunity to spend two nights with my Aunt Tanya who was in town from Minnesota for a work trip. We went to dinner on Wednesday night at The Grove which was good and had amazing dessert. After that I had an opportunity to show her my new house which I was super excited about because it's not too often I have family in town so most people have no idea what it looks like. She helped me out too with ideas of how to hang things because many of my pictures are still sitting on the floor and not put up yet. I don't have that whole spacial ability/interior decorating gene. My house should look awesome now after her suggestions. I did ask her to keep me accountable to hanging up at least one thing a month so that I'll actually take her up on her suggestions.

On Thursday night I was hanging out with a family from church that I'm good friends with when on my way home I got a message from my uncle Andy, Tanya's husband, that Tanya's mom was taken to the hospital by ambulance and they weren't sure what was wrong. Fortunately I only live like 20 minutes from the Marriott where she was staying so I was able to get there in no time and spend the night so she wouldn't be sitting there by herself. The next flight back to Minnesota wasn't until 7:30am the next day. I wanted to be there for her, and loved the conversations again as always but I quickly became enamored with the 300 thread count sheets and down comforter of the new King size Marriott Marquis beds. Wow, they were amazing. We ordered room service and the guy came in and delivered the food while I was still trying out the bed with the covers pulled all the way up. I didn't know what to say but exclaim "Hi!!" because I was so elated with the bed I couldn't bear to leave it. When he left he said "thank you for saying at the magnificent Marriott"' and I told him it was indeed magnificent. Earlier in the evening I had also somehow managed to break the handle off the sink in the bathroom so that the water wouldn't shut off. Normally if you're trying to comfort someone this is not the right move. Fortunately, we did get quite a good laugh out of it when I popped my head out of the bathroom with the handle in my hand and said "uhhh this could be a problem." It was fixed in no time though even at midnight by the maintenance guy.

The latest I've heard is that Tanya's mom had a seizure, but recovered completely, praise the Lord.

If you're ever in Atlanta, stay at the Marriott for sure unless you actually want to get up in the morning.

The Flu of Doom

I had a really fun Saturday hanging out with my cousin Rochelle and her fam. We had a picnic on their playset, went swinging on the swings, went for a walk, talked, and had an amazing dinner- thanks to Steven and James for some unbelieveable steaks and au gratin potatoes.

Sunday was the opposite of that. I had somehow developed the flu of doom.

I think it's interesting that whenever anyone is sick, the main question is, how did you get it? As if somehow that would help to know. Really, the reason behind my horrible nausea and other things doesn't help me feel any less like I'm going to die. Which is what I told Jamie. I am going to die.

Fortunately, Jamie did what any good friend and roommate to me does, she bought me some gatorade, People magazines, and reassured me that I am not going to die.

So today am I not at work but instead catching up on things like Cosby Show reruns, facebook entries, and blogging. Not a bad day. Plus, I've kept the gatorade and toast down so far.

I'm craving Arby's, but value my life more then that. I never want to become such good friends with my bathroom ever again. Although, it is a cute bathroom.

WSB rules!!!

All of us MTW folks were reallly lucky to have January 1st and 2nd off. My friend Jennifer from my Kenya team came to visit for those days, so on the 2nd Jamie and I took her to do something Atlanta-ish before she had to go. We ended up at Atlantic Station which is the new area of Atlanta where you can "live, work, play" or basically never had to leave the place if you didn't want to. It even has it's own zip code and is walking distance from IKEA. We did go to IKEA first because I really wanted to get this $2.00 whisk that you can use to whip up the cream in your coffee. My uncle Andy had one and made me the most amazing coffee with it. Amazingly enough, it only took us about 15 minutes to find the whisk at IKEA and leave. It was a New Years miracle.

We drove a couple blocks down to Atlantic station and ate lunch at Boneheads which is really tasty. Then we shopped a bit and headed to do a VERY Atlanta-ish and unique thing- a tour of WSB radio and TV!! Nathan, Jamie's boyfriend, works there as an IT person for WSB radio and he gives one heck of a tour. We got to see where the DJ's sit for like 95.5 The Beat and learn all about how the radio is produced all over Atlanta. The highlight of the tour for me was getting to see Clark Howard do his show. I used to listen to Clark all the time so it was hard to contain my excitement at that point, but he was "on air" so we had to be quiet =). Going over to the TV side was cool too because we saw evening news anchor John Pruitt who walked right by us and then Jovita Moore getting her hair done. Not to mention getting a peak of the news set about 10 minutes before they went on air at 5:00pm.

Thanks Nathan for such a fun tour!!!

Good times w/peeps

I'm not sure what it is about New Years Eve that makes you think you have to do something like super cool..but hanging out with peeps works for me!